Super Bowl 50 Sets a New CBS Streaming Record

The Super Bowl is one of the most popular sporting events worldwide and continues to attract very large audiences. This year’s event was hosted at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area, and contested between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. According to broadcaster CBS, the average cost of a 30-second commercial during the game was a staggering $5 million. Unlike the majority of NFL games, the Super Bowl manages to create interest from new viewers outside of the US who aren’t overly versed with the rules. Perhaps, they want to see the half time show, adverts or simply intrigued by the spectacle. As a Brit, I don’t really follow American football, but the Super Bowl is always an interesting watch!

In terms of media coverage, the Super Bowl 50 was a resounding success and managed to attract a “record audience” streaming the game. Unfortunately, there’s no specific numbers from CBS to judge how many people tuned in, but it’s clearly broke last year’s figure of 800,000 viewers per minute. Even if you really dislike American football, this is an extremely impressive and exemplifies the importance of digital media. Part of this success is down to CBS encouraging streaming through various devices including the Apple TV, Roku Stick and Xbox One. It’s not unreasonable to think that streaming could take over from traditional TV broadcasts in the next 10-15 years. Technical problems during the stream might deter people from using it in the future, but organisers are becoming more aware of how to build the correct infrastructure for more viewers.

In an ideal world, I’d love to know the exact figures, because the Super Bowl provides an extreme example of consumers adopting streaming on a mass scale. Still, TV will reign supreme for some time, but people are now more open to streaming content online.